Garden of Peace and Tomatoes
by ArtisticCatari
Summary: Most people look at Nana and think she's just an average diner girl. But, she's so much more than that.


**Author's Note:**

 _To those of you who are unaware, I have been developing a cast of next generation characters for Shokugeki no Soma! I am planning on writing a full-fledged fic of my Soumegu child, Nana Yukihira's experience at Totsuki, but I wanted to create a small snippet of my writing style as well as Nana's personality before I begin. Think of this as a character study of sorts._

 _Anyways, hope you enjoy!_

Garden of Peace and Tomatoes

For Nana Yukihira, life was a routine. Every day, she would wake up, go to school and come home to Yukihira Diner. She would work at the restaurant, cooking alongside her parents and sometimes her younger brother. Cooking to Nana was a way for her to forget about the struggles of daily life and bask in the aromas of good ol' fashioned Yukihira-style cuisine. In her social life, she never had many friends to her name. Her family was the only thing she wanted and the only thing she thought she needed. She was only known as the girl who cooks and nothing else. No one knew her outside of school or the diner, so they just assumed all she ever thought about was cooking.

But that was simply not true.

Nana was walking home from a particularly stressful day of school. Her face was red, and tears streamed down her face as she went, each breath coming in sporadic gasps. That day, she had to make an oral presentation about Tokyo for her history class and Nana does **not** handle those well. She was passed down several of her mother, Megumi's traits and one of them just had to be her stage fright. In contrast to Megumi's low self-confidence towards her cooking (which she had grown out of by that time), Nana's stage fright leaned more towards public speaking. There wasn't any reason for it, but every time she would present a project or recite an essay, she would just… freeze. Not long after that, her face would become flushed and she would stutter and begin sweating until she shutdown completely. It was never a fun experience, but today just felt worse for some reason.

The blue-haired girl hurried to the diner as quickly as her legs would allow her, although it was difficult due to her blinding tears. She just wanted to get home, her safe haven. Eventually, Nana found herself staring up at the familiar sign reading "Yukihira Diner" and sighed in relief. Before opening the door, she wiped her tears using her headband she wore around her neck. She inhaled and exhaled several times until her breathing returned to normal, then turned the knob. In an instant, she was met with the smell of home-style cooking. She was finally home.

"There's my sunflower! How was school, Nana?" Nana's father, Soma Yukihira, asked as he walked into the temporarily empty diner. He wore the Yukihira Diner uniform as well as his iconic Soma Yukihira grin, which never failed to lift Nana's spirits.

"It was… alright. Hey, do you mind if I check the garden early today?" Nana responded.

"Sure thing, just be back before the dinner rush. Oh, and put on your uniform before you head out."

Nana smiled warmly, "Of course."

Now wearing the Yukihira Diner uniform, Nana headed out back from the kitchen door and took in the fresh air. She hadn't noticed it until now, but the sky looked beautiful today. _Wow… I was so stressed that I didn't even notice how clear the sky looked, there's barely a cloud in sight!_ She then looked on to where her and Megumi's garden awaited, and all her worries evaporated in an instant.

The garden held a special place in Nana's heart. It first began when she was at the age of four. Even before then, she was fascinated with plants and wanted to grow her own, so Megumi bought some soil and seeds and together they quickly created themselves a garden. At first, it was small, just like Nana was. There were a few vegetables and fruits, like tomatoes and squash, as well as a few flower beds sprinkled in, but as Nana grew up, gradually the garden did as well. Now, it was a beautiful sight, full of over a decade of love and dedication. There was one passion Nana had besides cooking, something no else but her family knew about. This was it.

Nana filled up a watering can and put on a pair of gloves and got to work. She pulled a few weeds dotted here and there, collected a couple of ripe fruits and vegetables she could use for her cooking (organic ingredients were her specialty after all) and began watering each individual plant, her extensive knowledge of botany helping her know exactly how much each plant needed. Finally, her chore was complete, although it didn't feel like one to her. She wiped the sweat off her brow and proceeded to put back the watering can and gloves, but there was one more thing to do before she headed back inside.

While she loved each and every plant in her garden, there was one that she loved the most. Within the garden there was a single lily. This flower was the first to have ever bloomed, and even after all these years, remains so. It was a beautiful shade of pastel pink and it had a tall, green stalk that allowed it to overlook the others. Nana looked at it as if she were the flower's mother, her gaze warm and gentle. She could look at it for hours if she wanted to, however, work came first. Having forgotten entirely about the day's events, she headed back inside, refreshed and renewed.

"Oh, Nana! I take it you took care of the garden?" Megumi asked her daughter once she returned to the kitchen.

"Yep, everything's looking good! I was able to pick some tomatoes too." Nana replied as she handed her mother the basket full of plump, red tomatoes.

"These look wonderful! Looks like our hard work has been paying off." Megumi laughed, then continued. "We can definitely put these to good use. I'm really proud of you, Nana, you're growing up to be such an excellent chef!"

Nana blushed, "Thanks, mom."

"Well then, everyone should be getting here soon. Let's get started."

"Right!"

.

.

The dinner rush went by smoothly and by night, the diner was once again empty. Nana untied her hair and put her headband back around her neck and started up the stairs to her room. Or at least she would have, but she was stopped by her father.

"Mind if I talk to you for a minute?"

Nana looked worried, "Did I do something wrong?"

Soma laughed in response, "Of course not! I actually wanted to give you something."

Nana tilted her head to the side, "Huh?"

Soma, with a hand held behind his back, spoke, "I know you struggle a lot with your stage fright. Believe me, you're your mother's daughter, I should know what stage fright looks like." He said as Nana looked shocked for a moment. "Anyway, I also noticed how much you care about that garden, it's clear how much it means to you." Nana nodded at that. "So, I want to give you something to remember it by."

"But I see it every day. Why would I need to remember it?" Nana questioned.

"Well… let's just say, soon you won't be here as often. I won't explain it right now, but what I can tell you is that you will have to make a name for yourself where you're going, and we don't want that stage fright of yours holding you back."

Nana nodded, "Yeah…"

Soma grinned, "So, I figured maybe having something to remind you of what you care about will bring a sense of comfort. Or at least, I think that's how it works."

Nana giggled then said, "I think I get it, thanks dad."

"Right, so then, here you go! Let this be a reminder of where you began, don't lose it, okay?"

As he said those words, Soma took his hand out from behind his back and lowered it to Nana's eye level. He opened it and in his palm was a hair clip the shape of a familiar pastel-pink flower.


End file.
